Sometimes they go too far

Don't Analyze This is one of those articles that drive me nuts, because it goes too far in dealing with something people don't do very well at all.

I have never been part of anything in engineering that has had too much practicing, usually there is no practicing at all, everything is real all of the time.
I have been part of a lot of projects where there was no practice at all, the prototype was the final product. That does not lead to very good products since we learn a lot trying to get everything together in the first place.
Look at the software industry, how often have we seen version 1.0 software that seems like it had never been tested, it usually comes together as something useful for version 3.
The only thing I can think of that practices a lot is the military and It doesn't look like they overdo it.

Make it real.

When you practice, replicate real-world circumstances as much as you can. Actors hold dress rehearsals in front of a live audience. You should too. You don't want to practice your big speech alone in your office. You want to give it in front of people to get used to the pressure of performing.

This I totally agree with. The military is doing this more and more with their training centers that recreate various types of towns.

As for not setting goals, I think that is stupid, if you don't set goals you won't get anywhere.
Setting goals that are not very well defined or not particularly hard are not good goals.

You need to set hard, pushing-the-envelope type goals, write them down in the present tense and what the next physical action is will make the biggest difference in the world.

I am going to write more about goals in a little bit.